David Attenborough's 'Dynasties' Crew Stepped In To Help Trapped Penguins

The crew from David Attenborough's Dynasties rescued some penguins who became trapped in a ravine and would have died.

Attenborough fans will know that the big man has strict rules when it comes to helping or saving animals, as he prefers to see them left in their natural habitat with anyone interaction from people. However, when the crew stumbled across a group of penguins - including their babies - became trapped. The team decided to make some steps, so the animals could go off and hunt for food.

Tonight's episode follows the lives of emperor penguins who live in -60C degree conditions.

Seeing the birds struggle, the crew including director Will Lawson, camera operator Lindsay McCrae and assistant Stefan Christmann said the team made a unanimous decision'.

Lawson said: "We opted to intervene passively.

"Once we'd dug that little ramp, which took very little time, we left it to the birds. We were elated when they decided to use it.

"There's no rule book in those situations. You can only respond to the facts that are right there in front of you.

"As you can imagine, we only show a fraction of the real trauma and difficulty that the animals go through - it was a very hard thing to see."

He added: "What was unique with this was that the only other animal there was us - nothing else would directly benefit from this.

"I'm sure some people will have an opinion in the other direction but in my heart of hearts I think we made the right decision."

According to the Sun, during a conference earlier this month producer Mike Gunton said: "We have a rule that interfering is a very dangerous thing to do. But these penguins were going to die through a freak act of nature if nothing happened.

"How would this conversation be going if you said you saw them there and did nothing? I think you have to do it."

BBC

But later on in the same conference, Attenborough opened up about the time he saw a baby elephant dying of thirst, and said: "All you're doing is prolonging the death. So, you make things infinitely worse. Tragedy is part of life and you have to show it. You can't have sunshine throughout your life.

"To have done anything else would only make matters worse and distort the truth."

Dynasties is on BBC One on Sundays and on iPlayer.

Topics: TV and Film, BBC, david attenborough, Animals

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19